Saturday, 19 February 2011

Since October I've been to Bali for Peachy & Nat's wedding. It was a pretty good trip, and I loved catching up with everyone from Adelaide. It's so funny how you just click back into hold habits and patterns around old friends.

But to be honest, I was completely shattered financially because of the trip plus having to move out in October. Then afterwards I simply didn't work enough hours at Vertex / Telstra and was in a pretty bad state of affairs. Pretty much sold everything portable that I never use - DS, PSP, iPod, Camera. Selling my camera hurts. Also sold my dex and mixer.

However, fate had better plans. Actually, people may say fate, but to be brutally honest, it was all me. I left my crap job at Vertex / Telstra and moved to Auckland, New Zealand to continue my career in games.

I'm working for Gameloft, and until recently was Assistant Producer on an iPhone game, and now I'm Producer on another game and another console. Can't be more specific than that, I'm afraid... NDAs and all that...

Most of my stuff is in storage in Melbourne. Not sure if I'll get it sent over, or if I'll sell it all or what. I do want it here, especially my bed! but maybe when I'm a bit more settled.

Auckland is kind of dull. Admittedly I haven't been out much - been to a strip bar which wasn't that great - I mean, sure, "Yay titties" but if you can only look there's always the internet and it doesn't cost $20 entry and $10 for a beer. I'd have tipped the ladies more if it wasn't so damn expensive!

Apart from that place, drinks are reasonably priced. Food is a little on the expensive side, although comparable to Australia I guess. I've found a couple of nice asian places around my flat, and they're not bad, but I'm yet to find a place that does a Parma for a decent price.

I ended up going to the Big Day Out in Auckland. I wasn't going to go this year, but thought new city, new country, might be fun. It was, but not all that different to any other BDO really.

I found I spent most of the time on the side stages. And I caught quite a few NZ groups - one which were a poor man's White Stripes - a male/female duo playing one instrument each song, but they were quite enjoyable.

When I went to many of my trips to the bar, I discovered a band called Family Cactus, who had about 7 people on stage, and who sounded very "Radiohead", but not nearly as miserable. I really enjoyed them, and will try and track down their albums.

Kora, a NZ funk/soul band, who should have been in the Boiler room, just because they had a better "dance" sound than Mt Eden Dubstep who were on at the same time. Kora had a great sound, that New Zealand funk/soul/dance sound of Supergroove or Fat Freddy’s Drop, and it was appreciated by a massive crowd.

Although to be fair Mt Eden Dubstep were ok... too wobbly for my tastes, but maybe it was the fact that thousands were singing along with their tracks it didn't want to make me put a knitting needle through my ear like most dubstep sets I’ve had to endure. Maybe they’re just better DJs than Melbourne / Adelaide dubstep DJs, but the fact remains they were just DJs and I’d have preferred to see a live act in the boiler room.

Bloody Beetroots were like a poor man's Daft Punk. Sure, they had more equipment on stage and were “live”, and the lightshow wasn't as nearly spectacular, but they were dull as fuck. What is it with Electro acts?

Die Antwoord are a must. Yeah, their music sucks, but fuck me these guys are entertaining on stage. It's like Vanilla Ice had a baby with Dali, and he decided to partner up with the ideal Aryan woman, especially in the fact she should be seen and NOT heard (you’ll understand me when she sings), and they've decided to make hiphop without really understanding what hiphop is.

This year seemed to be the year of the Gimmick - even Sia came out on stage covered in black & white paint, constrained in a box. She's so fucking cute though, and the crowd may have been soaked, we had a ball!

Iggy Pop was Iggy Pop – as frantic and crazy on stage as always. Their set is an album set, not the usual best of, so if you're not a huge Stooges fan, you'll probably be pissed he didn't play Lust for Life.

And Tool were Tool. If you’re a fan, you might like it, but I thought they were pretty dull.

I completely missed LCD sound system – they were on the same time as Primal Scream, who were by far the best act of the day.

Doing an album live has its own pitfalls - for example the Pixies were record perfect - you could have been in the studio with them, not on stage with thousands of people. And as I mentioned before about Iggy & the Stooges, for someone who isn’t a fan, you wonder where all the good songs are.

But Scream have decided to do something different, because in the 20 years since Screamadelica their sound has changed to be a lot more blues/rock influenced. Part of this is the different producers they've worked with, part from the introduction of Stone Roses' Mani on Bass. They've taken that on board, and have redone the seminal dance/rock album and educated it with the rock/blues mentality. So it rocks out, led by Mani’s amazing bass playing, but still amazingly uplifting and soulful.

And those who know me know I've seen a lot of acts - and Primal Scream's Screamadelica Live is up in the top 10, for sure.

Softography

Producer on My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic on iOSProducer on Playful Minds Math on iOSAssistant Producer on Silent Ops on iOS

Krome Studios Melbourne:

QA on Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole on PS3, Xbox360 and WiiQA on Game Room on Xbox360Assistant Producer on unannounced and cancelled Wii titleAssistant Producer on Transformers: Rise of the Fallen on Wii/PS2Lead QA on SceneIt? Box Office Smash on Xbox360QA on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on WiiQA on Hellboy: Science of Evil on Xbox360 & PSPQA on The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels on Wii

Krome Studios Adelaide:

Senior QA on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on PSPQA on The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night on WiiQA on The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning on PS2

Ratbag / Midway Australia

Lead QA for Ratbag Games ToolsQA on Wheelman on PS2 (cancelled)Lead QA on Speedway Sprintcars (PAL) on PS2QA on Saturday Night Speedway on PS2 and PCQA on Dukes of Hazzard:Return of the General Lee on Xbox